As a preliminary matter, the present application is directed to a field of computer technology related to slide presentations and software applications for creating and presenting slide presentations. Slide presentation applications, such as Microsoft PowerPoint, are well known to the public and have been in use for many years. PowerPoint, for example, launched over 25 years ago. A typical slide presentation application comprises one or more computer programs that execute on a computer such as a personal computer, tablet, or smartphone. In addition to having the ability to present presentation slides, slide presentation applications typically include features for creating and editing presentation slides or a sequence of slides, sometimes referred to as a slide deck.
In operation, a slide presentation application typically provides a graphical user interface (“GUI”) that displays an art board including a work area for use by the user. The art board is a space that is displayed by the GUI, while the work area is a page that is displayed in that space. The GUI displays the art board as a background for the work area. The work area represents the geometric shape and size of the slide. In particular, the work area is a page, initially an empty page, that provides a spatial area with boundaries. The page is a user-selectable size, such as Letter, Legal, A4, etc. The slide presentation application can also allow the user to select a custom size for the page. The GUI includes features that allow a user to create a new slide by allowing the user to add slide elements to the work area and to edit the slide elements, such as by moving, sizing, or adding content. As part of this process, the GUI can provide the user with the option to start the new slide with a blank page or a combination of a blank page and a user-selected template for the slide.
The meaning of a slide element would generally be understood to those of ordinary skill in this field of technology. For example, it would generally mean a software item, adapted for a slide presentation application, that can be added to or removed from a (electronic) presentation slide for allowing a user to create and configure a slide, and which software item may have (but is not required to have) displayed spatial properties within the slide when the slide is being edited via a GUI or when it is rendered.
A slide template is a common tool in slide creation applications. It is used to predefine a set of slide elements for application to a slide. The slide elements can include background color or other general graphics for the slide as a whole. The template can also define slide elements such as one or more visual or content boxes for displaying user content and the general arrangement of the boxes on the slide.
Slide elements can include images, graphics, video, text, animation, or other types of elements. The GUI permits the user to position the location of different slide elements and in doing so permits the user to position elements in the work area. This can include positioning slide elements in a way that they extend or exist outside of the work area and over the art board. The GUI also permits the user to change properties of some slide elements, such as the color and font size of text, or the volume and speed of playback of a video element.
The slide presentation application provides the user with the ability to save the combination of the page, referring to the page size of the work area, and configured (e.g., positioned) slide elements added to the work area. In operation, the slide presentation application can provide the ability to create or edit a slide and can play the slide. In other words, there is a set of configuration information and user content that together display or “play” a presentation slide when the presentation slide is selected to be played. This saved combination defines a presentation slide. When the presentation slide is selected to be played, the slide presentation application retrieves the saved configuration and plays the slide in accordance with the configuration of the page and its elements. An underlying point being that a slide exists in a different state when it played as opposed to when it is being created or edited. Also, for clarification, slide elements can also refer to a configuration or properties of the slide as a whole, such as its background color or theme.
Overall, slide presentation applications specify a specific construct, or methodology, that is used for making, modifying, saving, generating, and displaying presentations involving a sequence of slides incorporating a variety of visual elements with specified properties. The construct is different from other common types of applications such as word processing, spreadsheet, or image processing.
Slide presentation applications have widespread adoption and are, in general, a standard part of the suite of software tools used by business and personal users. The application is used in any field in which an individual seeks to present information to an audience. This includes fields such as education, legal, financial, technology, and management.
Despite its widespread use, applications in this field have, in general, have remained generally static with respect to core functionality for creating or editing slides and are often times difficult to use. As such, there has been a longstanding need to improve this field of technology. They can also be tedious to use if a user seeks to prepare a deck of slides with varying content but which also requires consistent design layouts across the slides in the deck. There has also been very little known advancements in the field of slide creation applications as it relates to litigation graphics.
The known processes typically still involve reliance on the subjective decisions by the user of the application. It can also involve imprecision in creating slide arrangements because they rely on the visual or manual positioning of element. There is no known precise way to produce slides that incorporates features that improve the usage of space and presentation quality. Known systems also are incapable of intelligently differentiating between different content and applying different graphics properties or rules to different content in producing slide elements and arrange slide elements in a new slide. Known systems are also incapable of harnessing the graphic capabilities of existing slide creation applications.
One aspect that is unique to this field is that in practical effect a single software application serves this market. Another unique aspect is that individuals typically use content from other applications as part of a slide in their presentation. A user may, for example, add content from a PDF document to be part of a slide. Existing processes for providing this “cross-over” are deficient because, for example, they can result in generating a slide that has poor quality and are time-consuming.
This is not an exhaustive explanation and it would be understood that other deficiencies exist and the technology contemplated herein includes advantages that assist in these areas and potentially other areas.